Althouse: Doodling is quite appropriate.

March 5, 2009

Doodling is quite appropriate.

A study shows.

Accordingly, at today's presentation, I doodled:

34 comments:

Meade said...: Sign it and offer it on ebay.

I'll start the bidding: $20; 3/5/09, 12:56 PM
Rose said...: Pretty darn good, Ann!; 3/5/09, 12:58 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Sign it and offer it on ebay."

Oh, I guess I better retrieve it from the trash, then!; 3/5/09, 1:01 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Althouse, is the one on the bottom a portrait of Titus?; 3/5/09, 1:03 PM
Host with the Most said...: How come the people who are good at drawing are also good at photography?

What about the rest of us poor slobs?; 3/5/09, 1:09 PM
Michael Haz said...: The one on the bottom right looks like Dick Cheney.

I may not be keen to buy a CD of your voice reading Titus's comments, but I'd bid for drawings and photo originals.; 3/5/09, 1:12 PM
Trooper York said...: So you really are hot for Karl Rove your republican you.; 3/5/09, 1:15 PM
Host with the Most said...: By the way,

Kenneth Starr is before the California Supreme Court defending Proposition 8, and he is brilliant!; 3/5/09, 1:16 PM
Host with the Most said...: Go Kenneth! Go Kenneth!; 3/5/09, 1:23 PM
ricpic said...: Of course, I can't speak for other doodlers but for me the best thing about doodling is that the hand holding the pen or pencil just goes where'er it will, with no volition. That's what people don't understand. They think there has to be some meaning to the doodle, when there isn't, none whatsoever. That's what's so great about it. Doodling is the perfect Bissage art form.; 3/5/09, 1:27 PM
Host with the Most said...: Wow, I'm watching on the Prop 8 proceedings on MSNBC. None of the Justices is of the brain power of Kenneth Starr.

Of course, brain power on the US courts has never meant anything.; 3/5/09, 1:31 PM
TMink said...: I doodle, Althouse, that is NOT doodling. It is way too good. 8)

"How come the people who are good at drawing are also good at photography? What about the rest of us poor slobs?"

I made my living as a photographer for awhile and I cannot draw and can hardly write. But I am good at composition and a big enough nerd to have some technical chops.

But the hand will not follow what the brain wills it to do in my case, so I use the camera to do that part for me.

Maybe you are struggling a bit with composition. My father was a magnificent painter. He had small muscle control that you would not believe! He did not know WHAT to paint, so I would send him photos and he would paint the ones that spoke to him.

Together, we did some good work. I could see, but he had the skills!

Trey; 3/5/09, 1:46 PM
cardeblu said...: Steven Wright and Karl Rove??; 3/5/09, 1:56 PM
Jeremy said...: I [heart] the Bic Uniball. I prefer the .3 to the .5 but either wat it's a marvelous pen.; 3/5/09, 1:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Who is the lady with the pointy nose?; 3/5/09, 2:01 PM
J. Cricket said...: Afternoon at the Self-Absorption Cafe!

What's next, pictures of your used tissues?; 3/5/09, 2:27 PM
Meade said...: "What's next, pictures of your used tissues?"

I'll start the bidding: $200; 3/5/09, 2:32 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Trogdor!; 3/5/09, 2:43 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: The thing about drawing Egyptian eyes in multiple figures within a composition is they must all agree. One slight fraction of an inch difference between them or any variation in the curve, and the figures are thrown out of synch and out of canon by entire dynasties. I owe mastery of the Egyptian kohl-lined eye to continuous doodling as performing an etude through lectures. Plus, if it’s for a pharaonic piece, the master scribe comes down and kicks your ass and you risk being thrown in prison.; 3/5/09, 3:05 PM
JAL said...: Prof Althouse studied art but took another path and ended up in law school. She eats better now.

Did I recall that correctly (where from)?

Or did I make it up?; 3/5/09, 3:06 PM
JAL said...: Leno (or Letterman? -- no, Leno) had Scarlett Johannsen (sp?) on last month, sniffling with a cold she got from someone else famous, and they auctioned her tissue (aka kleenex) off (for charity)on eBay for some ridiculous price.

Maybe the guy wanted to clone her?; 3/5/09, 3:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Jeremy --

"I [heart] the Bic Uniball. I prefer the .3 to the .5 but either wat it's a marvelous pen."

Agree 100%. I used to have a complete set of all their colors. Fifty or so at the time, I think. Great for sketching, but not for permanent work as the oils run over time.; 3/5/09, 3:26 PM
CS said...: Is one of the doodled men James Madison?; 3/5/09, 3:52 PM
XWL said...: But why did you doodle Michelangelo's David (top), Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (bottom right), and Benjamim Franklin (center left)?

Seems like an odd trio, what's the connection?; 3/5/09, 3:55 PM
Trooper York said...: I got it. You bored of the legal bullshit and were listening to your Ipod. That's Crosby, Stills and Nash.

As usual Niel Young did not show up.; 3/5/09, 4:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: So you admit to listening better while you are making images on paper.That does focus the memory for some reason. I find that it is not really an attempt to withdraw from the group around you...It is a tool to focus on their words and not become scattered by absorbing the body language and seductive romance coming off of other people in the room.For me the act of drawing fixes a point of reference giving the words a mental place to be stored. I believe that in a room where Obama was speaking, the doodling tool would filter out his personal charisma leaving behind his spoken message alone. This skill makes you into a Difficult Girl who digs in, Althouse!; 3/5/09, 4:09 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Sign it and offer it on ebay.

I think it's too good for ebay. Etsy would be more fitting.; 3/5/09, 4:43 PM
The Dude said...: Learning to see is key to drawing, sculpture and photography.

Some think that it is not necessary, but one can see the difference between the work of someone who understands that point and someone who doesn't. A perfect example is Glenn Reynolds, who thinks he can take photographs, but just takes snapshots. No matter how much fancy gear he buys, until he learns how to see his work will always be mediocre.

I have mixed feelings about the quality of Ms. Althouse's work - some of her photographs are ok. Some are hackneyed. These drawings look pretty good. I would guess that she has had a drawing class or two.; 3/5/09, 5:15 PM
blake said...: I find this thing on doodling to be true. Though there is a danger of doodle becoming way too involving and completely taking you out of the room.; 3/5/09, 5:19 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: One of those dudes looks just like Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!; 3/5/09, 5:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Looks more like drawing than doodling to me :) How does one tell the difference, anyway?

Doodling is everywhere these days. What gives?; 3/5/09, 6:07 PM
msumike said...: That is funny. I remember looking over at Prof. Althouse during the talk and I saw her scribbling but I thought she was taking notes. Good work though!; 3/5/09, 6:21 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I was taking notes up through the part where I spoke.; 3/5/09, 7:57 PM
Big Mike said...: So what happened? Anything that we law-abiding citizens, but not lawyers, ought to know about? Did you make it to your class?; 3/6/09, 1:51 PM